


The Rabbit Listened

by Miss_Vile



Series: Nygmobblepot One Shots [21]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Chief of Staff Edward Nygma, Children's Stories, M/M, Mayor Oswald Cobblepot, Season 3, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26546860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Vile/pseuds/Miss_Vile
Summary: The rabbit listened as Taylor talked. The rabbit listened as Taylor shouted. The rabbit listened as Taylor remembered… and laughed. The rabbit listened to Taylor’s plans to hide… to throw everything away… to ruin things for someone else."
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Series: Nygmobblepot One Shots [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1396144
Comments: 16
Kudos: 46





	The Rabbit Listened

**Author's Note:**

> I was reading _The Rabbit Listened_ but Cori Doerrfeld to my classroom and I can't help but think about our two favorite idiots every time I read it. 

“How many more grades do we have to visit?” Oswald asked, a fake smile plastered across his face as he spoke. When he agreed to this school visit, he wasn’t aware of how few opportunities he would have to sit down. Most of these visits only required a photo or two, a speech, and then he’d be on his way. This was an entirely different story.

“This is a K through twelve building,” Ed replied, his tone just as lacking in enthusiasm as his own.

“Twelve?”

“Mmm hmm…”

“We don’t have to see every single class, do we?”

“Mayor James used to read to the children,” their guide spoke up, her eyes much too wide. Oswald was about to make a snide remark at Aubry James’ expense, but the sight of the cameraman from the newspaper made him change his tune.

"It _would_ be good for your image," Edward whispered in his ear, nodding his head slightly toward the reading rug that was set up for the visit— neatly organized with small circles for the children to sit on and an assortment of penguin-themed books that were no doubt placed there to mock him. But, jokes on them, because he wore that moniker with pride nowadays.

"Fine," Oswald rolled his eyes, "One book."

Several books later, the City's beloved Mayor was tired, having grown newfound respect for the teachers who did this all day and still looked ready to conquer the world. It took a different breed of Gothamite to deal with the children who lived in this godforsaken city.

Ed was busying himself farther away from the group. He had significantly less tolerance for the whining, screaming, sticky school children. Ed tapped his watch and Oswald took that as his cue the stand, but a tiny hand on his sleeve stopped him.

"Hello, there," Oswald smiled, trying to maintain his friendly appearance for the press.

The child was young— barely into the first grade— and held a book out toward his storyteller. He wore thick-rimmed glasses that magnified his blue eyes comically. 

"Oh, I'm afraid I must be on my way—"

A wadded ball of paper collided with the boy’s head. He barely flinched, almost like he was used to it. Oswald glared in the direction it had been thrown and spotted two older boys, one with a yellow shirt with a truck on it and the other with a blue polo and gelled back hair, who were pointing and laughing. They held up their fingers toward their face in a gesture that made them look like they had glasses.

“We should move on, Mayor Cobblepot,” Ed approached him, his jaw tight and nose scrunched like there was a bad smell. Which, in his defense, there was.

“Just one more,” Oswald smiled and held out his hand for the book. The boy’s eyes glimmered.

The book didn’t seem that remarkable. It was below the average reading level of the children that had been seated on the rug moments ago, but the boy with the glasses seemed fixated on it. Oswald shifted in the seat and froze when the boy chose to crawl into his lap to get a closer look. Oswald frowned and looked around for a teacher to rescue him, but they seemed occupied trying to rally the other classes back down the hall. He looked up at Ed who just shrugged. With a sigh, he decided to just carry on and read the book.

The boxed edges were well-loved. Powder blue letters that read _The Rabbit Listened_ were printed above a drawing of a child with a mop of curly hair hugging a brown rabbit. Oswald opened it to the first page and chuckled when the boy shifted and buried his cheek into his suit— his eyes bright and thumb securely in his mouth while he twirled his hair. 

_“One day, Taylor decided to build something,”_ he read, _“Something new. Something special. Something amazing.”_

The little boy in the book stacked blocks into an intricate castle. It was quite an elaborate structure and Oswald wondered if the young boy in his lap had ever built something as impressive. The thought warmed his heart and even made him think back to the early days of his own childhood when he would dream of building a better Gotham for him and his immigrant mother. How proud he was that he had climbed through the mud and gunpowder all the way to the throne of Gotham herself.

Oswald turned the page and frowned as a flock of crows knocked Taylor’s block tower down, _“But then, out of nowhere...things came crashing down.”_

The boy with the glasses sniffled.

_“The chicken was the first to notice…”_

One by one, various animals came to try and cheer Taylor up as he mourned his block tower. Oswald attempted to give them each unique voices, much to his Chief of Staff’s amusement. He always did wish he could have participated in theatre when he was in school and it showed. The boy with the glasses seemed engaged with his storytelling so, in spite of the embarrassment, he didn’t mind. Ed could tease him for it later if he wanted. Oswald didn’t really care.

_“But Taylor didn’t feel like doing anything with anybody. So eventually, they all left… until Taylor was alone,”_ Oswald paused and cleared the lump that started to form in his throat. He looked down at the boy in glasses and at the paper ball on the floor, “Do you sometimes feel alone?”

The little boy didn’t look up at him but nodded his head. It made Oswald’s heart clench.

“Sometimes I also feel alone, so I understand,” hesitantly, Oswald patted the boy on the head. He looked up at Ed who was still standing beside him. He had a fond look on his face. Oswald smiled at him before turning his attention back towards the book.

_“In the quiet, Taylor didn’t even notice the rabbit. But it moved closer, and closer. Until Taylor could feel its warm body.”_

Oswald paused again, thinking back to his time at Ed’s loft-style apartment bathed in green light. How he was ready to give up everything and leave Gotham and all he had built behind, but Ed let him express his pain so openly. He allowed the Penguin to be vulnerable and never mocked him for it.

_“Together, they sat in silence until Taylor said, ‘Please stay with me.’ The rabbit listened,”_ Oswald felt his eyes grow wet, _“The rabbit listened as Taylor talked. The rabbit listened as Taylor shouted. The rabbit listened as Taylor remembered… and laughed. The rabbit listened to Taylor’s plans to hide… to throw everything away… to ruin things for someone else. Through it all, the rabbit never left.”_

Ed’s hand landed on Oswald’s shoulder. He looked up at the brunette and chuckled. Who knew that a children’s book could get them both so choked up?

_“And when the time was right, the rabbit listened to Taylor’s plan to build again…”_

As Oswald finished the book, the boy with the glasses gave him a hug and then scurried off towards his teachers. Oswald wiped his eyes and finally stood up.

“Right, shall we go now?”

“I continue to be in awe of you, Oswald” Ed blurted out loud.

Oswald melted. He had wanted to tell Ed how he felt that morning but had been too nervous. He didn’t want both their worlds to come crashing down because of poor timing. He opened his mouth to speak, but Edward beat him to the punch.

“Oswald,” Ed cleared his throat, “Um… There is a matter I would like to discuss with you in a more private setting.”

“Is it… something I should be concerned about?” Oswald started putting up his walls.

“No! No, No… It’s… just something I’ve been meaning to tell you. For a long time,” he chewed on his lip, “Shall we say dinner at the mansion? Eight O’clock?”

Oswald smiled at that, “I’ll have Olga procure of our best wine from the cellar.”

“It’s a date then,” Edward smiled brightly, his shoulders bobbing in excitement.

“It is,” he batted his lashes before making his way towards the next step on their itinerary. Fortunately, he found it less difficult to smile as he walked down the hall.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
